title: Brown and beige fat: development, function and therapeutic potential.
abstract: Adipose tissue, best known for its role in fat storage, can also suppress weight gain and metabolic disease through the action of specialized, heat-producing adipocytes. Brown adipocytes are located in dedicated depots and express constitutively high levels of thermogenic genes, whereas inducible 'brown-like' adipocytes, also known as beige cells, develop in white fat in response to various activators. The activities of brown and beige fat cells reduce metabolic disease, including obesity, in mice and correlate with leanness in humans. Many genes and pathways that regulate brown and beige adipocyte biology have now been identified, providing a variety of promising therapeutic targets for metabolic disease.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seale
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology; D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D051379:Mice; D000071248:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000071248:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha; C485290:Ppargc1a protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors